GERMANTOWN, Wis. — After more than 56 years, the Germantown Police Department's dispatch center has transferred its emergency call operations to the Washington County Sheriff's Department.
"Today for the first time in over 56 years the microphones in the communications center of the Germantown Police Department will fall silent," the final dispatcher said when they signed off on Sunday.
The consolidation means the three dispatchers who previously worked at the Germantown center will now transition to other roles as 911 calls are routed through the Sheriff's Department in West Bend.
Kym Bichel helps moderate the popular Washington County Scanner Facebook page, which is not run by officials, expressed mixed emotions about the change.
"When I heard what the call was literally I got chills," she said. "The hair on the back of my neck stood up."
Bichel helps monitor live scanner feeds and posts updates online, noted that community members have voiced concerns about the consolidation potentially affecting response times.
"These dispatchers are the calm in the chaos," Bichel said. "They are in good hands, but I do understand their loss."
Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis said the change will actually improve efficiency.
"With the consolidation, we no longer have that transfer that has to take place," he said. "So we're able to dispatch public safety resources much faster."
Watch: Germantown dispatch operations move to Washington County Sheriff's Department after more than five decades
Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann pointed to financial benefits for Germantown residents and said the municipality brought the idea to the county.
"Anytime we can stretch a dollar a little farther by working together, or consolidating," he said. "It's a positive thing, puts tax payers first and this is a great example of that."
Other municipalities have deferred their 9-1-1 dispatch to the county, Hartford being the most recent. The City of West Bend still operates their own dispatch center.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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